The 5 Top Things Your Children Need to Know About Abortion

We need to train up a new generation that understands the value of life in the womb. Here are five things your children need to know about life:

1. What the Bible says about life.

There are at least six texts that every child needs to hide in his heart to understand the status of children in the womb and the heart of God toward them.

• First, Genesis 1:26-27 declares that man is made in the image of God and therefore is worthy of respect, "Let us make man in our image, according to Our likeness." Man bears the imprint of God and therefore he has value.

• Second, Exodus 20:13 makes murder a crime against God, "Thou shalt not kill," and "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man (Genesis 9:6).

• Third, Psalm 139:13-16, makes it clear that God formed human beings in the womb, 'You knit me together in my mothers womb; you formed my inward parts...your eyes saw my substance before I was unformed."

• Fourth, Jeremiah 1:5 affirms that God knew Jeremiah while he was in his mothers womb, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you."

• Fifth, Luke 1:35,41 reveals that John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit while in his mothers womb, long before he was separated by his mother at birth, "and it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the baby leaped in her womb," and that "He will be filled with the spirit, even from his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15).

• It is the testimony of scripture that leads us to believe that there should be equal protection under the law for life in the womb and that people ought to cry out for the defenseless. It is a matter of preserving the love of God for mankind. Murder contradicts His love. Proverbs 24:11 "Deliver those who are drawn toward death." Even though there are many places in Scripture that prove the wickedness of abortion, you only need one verse. Exodus 20:13 - "Thou shalt not kill."

We need to make it clear to our children that abortion is an attack on the entire Bible. In the Law, the Prophets, the Poetic books, the Pauline Epistles and the Gospels we find evidence of the sacredness of life in the womb and the sovereignty of God at work in conception. There should be equal protection under the law for life in the womb. For this reason, I encourage you to have your children memorize these important texts of Scripture.

2. Abortion is not new in our day, but what is new is how comprehensive and global it is.

Killing babies is not new or unique in our generation. This has always been a reflection of the devils work in the world and always sets off a conflict with the people of God. Pharoah launched an all out assault against baby boys but God preserved Moses through the Hebrew midwives. Herod did the same in his quest to destroy the Messiah. Roman parents did the same and left their unwanted to fend for themselves, while the church took them in and raised them as their own. My wife's aunt was a missionary in the jungles of South America in the 1950′s. She lived with a tribe where a child was not considered human until it was picked up by its father. If a child was born and the father did not pick it up, it was left to die. One day a baby was born in that village and the father turned his back and walked away. Deborah's aunt was horrified, and risked her life by picking up that baby. What she did that day is no different than what we ought to be doing in 2014.

3. There are evil lies people tell to justify abortion.

Our children need to be very clear on this matter: the father of lies is the father of abortion. Here are some of the lies he tells that his servants repeat over and over again:

• The fetus is not a human, just a mass of tissue.

• A woman should have unrestricted control over her own body.

• Abortion is safer than childbirth.

• A wanted child alive is better than an unwanted one dead.

• The number of abortions is relatively small.

• If abortion is outlawed women will be forced to go to back-alley abortion clinics.

• Aborting unwanted children reduces the number of abused children.

• We are overpopulating the planet.

• Planned Parenthood is a group that focuses on contraception.

4. God is for fertility.

The first command in the Bible is to "be fruitful and multiply." Genesis 1:28 - "Then God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" Genesis 9:1 makes it clear that after the flood, God's disposition had not changed, "So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.'"

Psalm 127:3-5 makes it clear that God views children as a blessing and so should we, "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate."

Malachi 2:15 declares the reason for marriage and having children, "He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth."

Genesis 24:60 reveals the godly disposition of brothers, "And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: 'Our sister, may you become The mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess The gates of those who hate them.'"

5. The church cannot be silent.

Proverbs 24:11 says, "Deliver those who are drawn toward death."

Scott T. Brown is a pastor at Hope Baptist Church in Wake Forest, NC and the director of the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches, spending his time as an expository preacher and helping people think through the two greatest institutions God has provided - the church and the family. Scott graduated from California State University in Fullerton with a degree in History and received a Master of Divinity degree from Talbot School of Theology. You can contact him through www.scottbrownonline.com or www.ncfic.org.